"x x x.
1.
The Respondent is a senior citizen, turning
66 years old on May 2, 2016 (having been born on May 2, 1950).
2.
The Respondent humbly invokes the sense of
COMPASSIONATE JUSTICE of this Honorable Office to revisit its questioned
Resolution, in the interest of compassionate justice.
3.
By analogy, the Respondent hereby invokes
the analogous spirit of the ruling of the Supreme Court in the case of PEOPLE
OF THE PHILIPPINES vs. CORDENCIO CHATTO alias "DENDEN," SATURNINO
DAGAYANON, AND SIX (6) OTHER JOHN DOES, CORDENCIO CHATTO, G.R. No. 102704,
March 10, 1993, where it was held that “it is a basic rule in our criminal
justice system that penal laws should be liberally construed in favor of the
offender”. The said case stressed the doctrine of “compassionate liberality” in
favor of minors involved in serious
crimes, which doctrine may be applied to senior citizens, too, such as the
Respondent.
4.
In aforecited case, the Supreme Court, considering
the gravity of the offenses and in the interest of justice, “allowed the
presentation of and admitted the birth certificates of the accused to prove the
mitigating circumstance of minority although said birth certificates were
not presented or offered in the trial court”.
5.
The foregoing analogous decision of the
Supreme Court should be applied to the herein Accused in the interest of
compassionate natural justice and equity.
